Proton Pack
Why worry? Each one of us is carrying an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back. - Dr. Venkman; Ghostbusters The Proton Pack is the primary ghost capturing device used by the Ghostbusters. History Designed in 1984 by Egon Spengler and Ray Stantz, the Proton Pack counters the negative energy which ghosts are made of with a Proton Stream, a stream of positively charged ions which can harness a ghost. The Proton Stream is very dangerous and barely controllable. Egon has also mentioned that crossing Proton Streams will result in total protonic reversal causing all life as we know it to stop instantaneously and every molecule in a user's body to explode at the speed of light. A deleted scene from Ghostbusters had Egon plugging the Proton Pack into a wall electrical outlet. This caused the outlet to immediately melt. In Ghostbusters II however, Egon mentioned that the power cells of the Proton Pack have a half life of 5000 years, which confirms the statement made in the first movie of the proton pack being a nuclear powered device. Function & Use The Proton Packs are special, for they are the only piece of technology in the world that has the ability to strip electrons away from protons. It has a hand-held wand known as a "Neutrona Wand" (also called a Proton Gun or Particle Thrower) connected to a backpack-sized particle accelerator. The Proton Pack, also referred to as a charged particle accelerator, functions by using a miniature cyclotron to concentrate protons by channeling though a "positron collider" and then to the neutrona wand, emitting way-fire positronic ionized stream of proton energy that polarizes with the negatively charged ectoplasmic entities which held them in the stream while active even if they are out of phase with reality (basically, this description is technobabble). In practical terms, the Proton Gun fires a stream of energy that allows a wielder to snare a ghost. The stream reacts to ghost energy and uses that energy to hold the ghost in place so it can be positioned above a Trap for capture. Even if a ghost becomes invisible or intangible, their negative energy still exists, though it is slightly out of phase with normal reality. The positive stream neutralizes their invisibility or phaseshift ability, then forces them back in sync with our reality and holds them in place for capture. Design This section is to describe what makes of a Proton Pack. Known Variants *GB1 normal pack *GB1 Hero pack (stunt packs made of foam rubber) *GB2 Mid-grade pack (new packs) *GB2 normal pack mkII (original pack with updates) *GB2 Hero pack *Universal Studios Florida pack Secondary Canon History Proton Pack in the Animated Series The Proton Pack in the animated series was recolored a blue/dark blue, and the bumper has 3 lights instead of 4. For more information of the animated version of this character go to the animated article. IDW Comics When banished by Koza'Rai to the four corners of time and space, each of the original three Ghostbusters modified and constructed their own Proton Packs. Peter was modeled after the Old West-era, Ray's from Arthurian times, and Egon armed his own military force with Packs. In 1780, Leonardo da Vinci modified Janine Melnitz' Pack then made at least three more for the rookies she hired. Rachel Unglighter used magic on her own versions, dubbed "Mega-Packs," that she claimed were upgraded and there was no longer a danger in crossing the streams. It also had the ability to "freeze" ghosts with the flip of a blue switch. Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime Over the next decade, Egon and Ray continue to make upgrades to the Proton Packs. Egon's and Ray's studies on paranormal entities have revealed that Ectoplasm can be charged with different sub-atomic charges. The junior team are the first to use this new version of the Packs, complete with the Proton Beam, Fermion Shock, and Plasma Inductor options. Each option is designed to disperse an entity with a specific weakness to a certain energy frequency and thus, reduce the need for the Ghost Traps. Trivia * In Ghostbusters: The Video Game, crossing the streams only causes the Ghostbusters involved to be knocked down by the backlash and suffer a bit of damage. This is a safety feature introduced to the revised Proton pack, explicitly called "cross-stream governor" by Egon. The safety can be turned off, allowing the packs to cross the streams in case of emergency, GBTVGReferenceCrossingTheStreamsRV.jpg as is the case in the battle against Ivo Shandor. **The pack also gets three uprgrades/new attack modes during the course of the game (field tested by the player's character). * The term "Proton Pack" was actually not used onscreen until halfway through the second film, when Egon says "before we go any further I think we should get our Proton Packs". Also See *Proton Pack - Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Realistic Versions) *Proton Pack - Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Stylized Versions) *Proton Pack - Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Stylized Portable Versions) *Proton Pack - Animated shows *Particle Thrower - Animated shows Appearances Appearances *'Ghostbusters' *'Ghostbusters II' *'Ghostbusters: The Video Game' Secondary Canon Appearances *'IDW Comics' **"Displaced Aggression Issue 1" **"Displaced Aggression Issue 2" **"Displaced Aggression Issue 3" **"Displaced Aggression Issue 4" **"Past, Present, and Future" **"Tainted Love" **"What in Samhain Just Happened?" **"Guess What's Coming to Dinner? **"Ghostbusters: Infestation 1" **"Ghostbusters: Infestation 2" *'Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime' References Gallery Overall Primary Canon ProtonPack01.png| ProtonPack02.png| ProtonPack03.png| ProtonPack04.png|The Back of a Proton Pack ProtonPack05.png| Proton pack 01.jpg| Proton pack 02.jpg|An example of why it takes extra caution to use the Proton pack Omnigb1.png|Omni Magazine Cover Features Proton Pack Secondary Canon ProtonPackDisplacedAggression01.jpg|Peter's as seen in "Displaced Aggression Issue 1" ProtonPackDisplacedAggression02.jpg|Ray's as seen in "Displaced Aggression Issue 1" and "Issue 2" ProtonPackDisplacedAggression04.jpg|Ghostbusters Versailles Pack in "Displaced Aggression Issue 4" ProtonPackDisplacedAggression03.jpg|Rachel Unglighter's Mega-Pack ProtonPackDisplacedAggression05.jpg|Side view of Mega-Pack Category: Equipment Category:Ghostbusters Movie Equipment Category:Ghostbusters II Equipment Category:Ghostbusters IDW Comics Equipment Category:Ghostbusters: SOS Equipment